2019-2-19

GCBC | Devotional | February 19, 2019

Genesis 24:1-67
The Marriage Covenant: Isaac and Rebekah – Christ and the Church
The story of Isaac and Rebekah is perhaps the clearest picture of God’s orchestration of marriage. Fittingly so, it is also a clear picture of God’s orchestration of the union that marriage points to: that of Christ and the Church. The 24th chapter of Genesis reveals certain truths about the covenantal marriage that God invites us, the Church, to receive in Christ.

It is the LORD’s doing and it is His plan. He is the one who initiates and completes the union.

Abraham adamantly assures his servant that the LORD will give him success in finding Isaac a wife. The servant continually prays to the LORD to bring the right person and give him discernment of His will. As the process of securing Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife unfolds, the servant continually praises the LORD for His steadfast love and faithfulness that brings these things to pass. The LORD alone is responsible for the covenant we can enter into with Him. He brings about our salvation and He initiates this beautiful relationship.

It is the fulfillment of a promise; an oath of great importance and entrusted to the most faithful servants.

The servant Abraham entrusts with the task of finding Isaac his wife is the “oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had” (v.2). This servant embarks on this journey in fulfillment of the promise he gave to Abraham. In the same way, the covenantal marriage of Christ and the Church is the fulfillment of many of the promises of God to his people delivered by His faithful servants such as Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, and the prophets of the Old Testament. God fulfills his promises to His people. His word shall not fail.

The Church must respond to the call and accept the call that God initiates. The Church must receive the steadfast love and faithfulness of the LORD.

Rebekah was given a choice. She could follow the servant to a foreign land and marry a man she did not know, or she could refuse and stay with her family. Knowing that this was the LORD’s doing and entrusting her life to His authority, she chose to go, and to go immediately. In order to enter into the covenantal marriage, we must accept and recognize the authority of the LORD and say “Yes” to His call upon our lives. We must follow him no matter the cost.

When we, the Church, become the bride of Christ, we receive the perfect love of Christ.

In the final verse of the chapter, it says that Rebekah became Isaac’s wife, and he loved her. She obeyed and followed and received the love of her husband. When we become the bride of Christ, we receive a greater love than any human could ever give. We receive a perfect, full, incomparable love of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. —- Jessica Sun